| Georgy Zhukov Гео́ргий Жу́ков |
|
|---|---|
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 9 February 1955 – 26 October 1957 |
|
| Premier | Nikolai Bulganin |
| Preceded by | Nikolai Bulganin |
| Succeeded by | Rodion Malinovsky |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 December 1896 Strelkovka, Kaluga, Russian Empire |
| Died | 18 June 1974 (aged 77) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Soviet |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| Signature | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Russian Empire Soviet Union |
| Service/branch | Russian Imperial Army Soviet Army |
| Years of service | 1915–1957 |
| Rank | Marshal |
| Battles/wars | World War I, Russian Civil War, Battle of Khalkhin Gol (Nomonhan), Great Patriotic War |
| Awards | |
Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (Russian: Гео́ргий Константи́нович Жу́ков; 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1896 – 18 June 1974), was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis Powers' occupation and conquer Germany's capital, Berlin. He is the most decorated general in the history of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.
Contents |
Born into a poverty-stricken peasant family in Strelkovka, Maloyaroslavsky Uyezd, Kaluga Governorate (now merged into the town of Zhukov in Zhukovsky District of Kaluga Oblast in modern-day Russia), Zhukov was apprenticed to work as a furrier in Moscow. In 1915 he was conscripted into the army of the Russian Empire, where he served first in the 106th Reserve Cavalry Regiment, then the 10th Dragoon Novgorod Regiment.[1][2] During World War I, Zhukov was awarded the Cross of St. George twice and promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer for his bravery in battle. He joined the Bolshevik Party after the October Revolution; his background of poverty became an asset. After recovering from typhus he fought in the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921, at one time within the 1st Cavalry Army. He received the Order of the Red Banner for subduing the Tambov rebellion in 1921.[3]
By 1923 Zhukov was commander of a regiment and in 1930 of a division. He was a keen proponent of the new theory of armoured warfare and was noted for his detailed planning, tough discipline and strictness, and a "never give up" attitude.
In 1938 Zhukov was directed to command the First Soviet Mongolian Army Group, and saw action against Japan's Kwantung Army on the border between Mongolia and the Japanese controlled state of Manchukuo in an undeclared war that lasted from 1938 to 1939. What began as a routine border skirmish — the Japanese testing the resolve of the Soviets to defend their territory — rapidly escalated into a full-scale war, the Japanese pushing forward with 80,000 troops, 180 tanks and 450 aircraft.
This led to the decisive Battle of Khalkhin Gol. Zhukov requested major reinforcements, and on 20 August 1939 his "Soviet Offensive" commenced. After an artillery barrage, nearly 500[4] BT-5 and BT-7 tanks advanced, supported by over 500[5] fighters and bombers; this was the Soviet Air Force's first fighter-bomber operation.[6] The offensive first appeared to be a conventional frontal attack; however, two tank brigades were held back and ordered to advance around both flanks, supported by motorised artillery, infantry and tanks. This daring and successful manoeuvre encircled the Japanese 6th Army and captured the enemy's vulnerable supply areas. By 31 August 1939, the Japanese were cleared from the disputed border leaving the Soviets victorious.[7]
The campaign was significant beyond the immediate outcome. Zhukov demonstrated and tested techniques later used against the Germans in the Second World War. These included the deployment of underwater bridges,[8] and improving inexperienced units by adding a few experienced troops.[9] Evaluation of the performance of the BT tanks led to the replacement of fire-prone petrol engines with diesel engines, and provided valuable experience for the development of the T-34 medium tank.[8] After the campaign, Nomonhan veterans were transferred to units that had not seen combat, to better spread the benefits of experience.[9]
For his victory, Zhukov was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union. However, the campaign, and Zhukov's pioneering use of tanks, remained little known outside of the Soviet Union. As a result, the Allies were surprised by the German Blitzkrieg during the Battle of France in 1940. Zhukov considered Nomonhan invaluable preparation for the Second World War.[10]
Promoted to full general in 1940, Zhukov was briefly (January–July 1941) chief of the Red Army's General Staff before a disagreement with Stalin led to him being replaced by Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov. Fortuitously, this led to a relative non-accountability of Zhukov's military role in the huge territorial losses during the German invasion of the Soviet Union thus ensuring his presence "in the wings" for Stalingrad. The question of how much he could have done had he held command earlier is still much discussed.
On 22 June 1941 Zhukov signed the "Directive of Peoples' Commissariat of Defence No. 3", which ordered an all-out counteroffensive by Red Army forces: he commanded the troops "to encircle and destroy [the] enemy grouping near Suwałki and to seize the Suwałki region by the evening of 24.6" and "to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping invading in [the] Vladimir-Volynia and Brody direction" and even "to seize the Lublin region by the evening of 24.6".[11] Despite numerical superiority, this manoeuvre failed, disorganized Red Army units were destroyed by the Wehrmacht. Zhukov subsequently claimed that he was forced to sign the document by Joseph Stalin, despite the reservations that he raised.[12] This document was supposedly written by Aleksandr Vasilevsky.[13]
On 29 July 1941 Zhukov was removed from his post of Chief of the General Staff. In his memoirs he gives his suggested abandoning of Kiev to avoid an encirclement as a reason for it.[14] On the next day the decision was made official and he was appointed the commander of the Reserve Front.[14] There he oversaw the Yelnya Offensive.
On 10 September 1941 Zhukov was made the commander of the Leningrad Front.[15] There he oversaw the defence of the city.
On 6 October 1941 Zhukov was appointed the representative of Stavka for the Reserve and Western Fronts.[16] On 10 October 1941 those fronts were merged into the Western Front under Zukov's command.[17] This front then participated in the Battle of Moscow and several Battles of Rzhev.
In late August 1942 Zhukov was made Deputy Commander-in-Chief and sent to the southwestern front to take charge of the defence of Stalingrad.[18] He and Vasilevsky later planned the Stalingrad counteroffensive.[19] In November Zhukov was sent to coordinate the Western Front and the Kalinin Front during Operation Mars.
In January 1943 he (together with Kliment Voroshilov), coordinated the actions of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts and the Baltic Fleet in Operation Iskra.[20]
Zhukov was a Stavka coordinator at the Battle of Kursk in July 1943. According to his memoirs, he played a central role in the planning of the battle and the hugely successful offensive that followed. Commander of the Central Front Konstantin Rokossovsky, said, however, that the planning and decisions for the Battle of Kursk were made without Zhukov, that he only arrived just before the battle, made no decisions and left soon afterwards, and that Zhukov exaggerated his role.[21]
Following the failure of Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, he lifted the Siege of Leningrad in January 1944. From 12 February 1944 Zhukov coordinated the actions of the 1st Ukrainian and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts.[22] On the 1 March 1944 Zhukov was appointed the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front[23] until early May.[24] During the Soviet offensive Operation Bagration, Zhukov coordinated the 1st Belorussian and 2nd Belorussian Fronts, later the 1st Ukrainian Front as well.[25] On 23 August Zhukov was sent to the 3rd Ukrainian Front to prepare for the advance into Bulgaria.[26]
On 16 November he became commander of the 1st Belorussian Front[27] which took part in the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the battle for Berlin. He called on his troops to ”remember our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our wives and children tortured to death by [the] Germans...We shall exact a brutal revenge for everything.” In a reprise of similar atrocities committed by German soldiers against Russian civilians in the eastward advance into Soviet territory during Operation Barbarossa, the westward march by Soviet forces was marked by brutality towards German civilians, which included looting, burning and rape.[28]
Zhukov was present when German officials signed the Instrument of Surrender in Berlin.[29]
After the capitulation, Zhukov became the first commander of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. As the most prominent Soviet military commander of the Second World War, he inspected the Victory Parade in Red Square in Moscow in 1945, mounted on a white stallion. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander in the West, was a great admirer of Zhukov; the two toured the Soviet Union together in the immediate aftermath of the victory over Germany.[30]
Zhukov was not only the supreme Military Commander of the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany but also became its Military Governor on 10 June 1945. A war hero and a leader hugely popular with the military, Zhukov constituted a potential threat to Stalin's leadership largely in Stalin's view. As a result, he was replaced by Vasily Sokolovsky on 10 April 1946. After an unpleasant session of the Main Military Council, at which he was bitterly attacked and accused of being politically unreliable and hostile to the Party Central Committee, he was stripped of his position as Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Ground Forces.[31] He was assigned command of the Odessa Military District, far away from Moscow and lacking strategic significance and attendant massive troop deployment. He arrived there on 13 June 1946. He suffered a heart attack in January 1948 and spent a month in hospital. In February 1948 he was given another secondary posting, the command of the Urals Military District.
Zhukov also suffered terribly from Lavrentiy Beria's plots and slanders. In fact, one of the last disasters that Beria caused to the Soviet Union is the plot to topple Zhukov. Two of Zhukov's subordinates, Marshal of the Red Air Force Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov and Lieutenant-General ru:Konstantin Fyodorovitch Teleghin (Member of the Military Council of 1st Belorussia Army Group) were arrested and tortured in Lefortovo jail at the end of 1945. At the confrontations, G. K. Zhukov unmasked the slander of the Director of the Intelligence Department, F. I. Golikov, about Zhukov's squandering of booty and exaggerating of the Nazi Germany's strength. Some other people accused him of being a Bonapartist.[32]
In 1946, seven rail carriages with furniture Zhukov was taking to the Soviet Union from Germany were impounded. In 1948, his apartments and house in Moscow were searched and many valuables looted from Germany were found.[33] In this investigation, Lavrentiy Beria even fabricated such unbelievable and unimaginable information such as Zhukov had 17 golden rings, three gemstones, 15 golden necklaces' faces, more than 4,000 meters of cloths, 323 pieces of fur, 44 carpets that were taken from German palaces and 55 paintings and 20 guns....[34] These incidents were ironically called "the investigation of the cup" by the Soviet military. In respond, G. K. Zhukov answered:
| “ | I do not need to defend myself since there is a fact that I completely do not need these things, and they might have been put into my house by someone else. I need a public inspection with clear pledge in order to avoid misunderstandings and slanders. Certainly, I will still serve whole-heartedly for the Motherland, the Party and Great Comrade Stalin. | ” |
|
—G. K. Zhukov, [35] |
||
When knowing about the "unfortunates" that happened with G. K. Zhukov, despite not understanding all the problems but Dwight David Eisenhower expressed his sympathy for his "comrade-in-arms" Zhukov.[36]
After Stalin's death, however, Zhukov returned to favor and became Deputy Defence Minister in 1953. In 1954 Zhukov was a member of the tribunal headed by Konev, which arrested (and condemned to execution) Lavrenty Beria, who until then had been First Deputy Prime Minister and head of the MVD.[37] When Bulganin became premier in 1955, he appointed Zhukov as Defence Minister.[37]
As Soviet defence minister, Zhukov was responsible for the invasion of Hungary following the revolution in October 1956.[38] Along with the majority of members of the Presidium, he urged Nikita Khrushchev to send troops to support the Hungarian authorities and to secure the border with Austria. Zhukov and most of the Presidium were not, however, eager to see a full-scale intervention in Hungary and Zhukov even recommended the withdrawal of Soviet troops when it seemed that they might have to take extreme measures to suppress the revolution. The mood on the Presidium changed again when Hungary's new Prime Minister, Imre Nagy, began to talk about Hungarian withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet leadership pressed ahead ruthlessly to defeat the revolutionaries and install János Kádár in Nagy's place.
In 1957 Zhukov supported Khrushchev against his conservative enemies, the so-called "Anti-Party Group" led by Vyacheslav Molotov. Zhukov's speech to the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party was most powerful, directly denouncing the neo-Stalinists for their complicity in Stalin's crimes.
In June that year he was made a full member of the Presidium of the Central Committee. He had, however, significant political disagreements with Khrushchev in matters of army policy. Khrushchev scaled down the conventional forces and the navy, while developing the strategic nuclear forces as a primary deterrent force, hence freeing up manpower and resources for the civilian economy.
Zhukov visited Yugoslavia and Albania in October 1957 aboard the Chapayev class cruiser Kuibyshev, attempting to repair the Tito–Stalin split of 1948.[39] During the voyage, Kuibyshev encountered units of the United States Sixth Fleet, passing honours were rendered.
Zhukov supported the interests of the military and disagreed with Khrushchev's policy. The same issue of Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) that announced Zhukov's return to Moscow also reported that Zhukov had been relieved of his duties.[40] Khrushchev, demonstrating the dominance of the Party over the army, had relieved Zhukov of his ministry and expelled him from the Central Committee. In his memoirs, Khrushchev claimed that he believed that Zhukov was planning a coup against him and that he accused Zhukov of this as grounds for expulsion at the Central Committee meeting.
After Khrushchev was deposed in October 1964, the new leadership of Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin restored Zhukov to favour, although not to power. Brezhnev, notorious for his vanity, was said to be angered when, at a gathering to mark the twentieth anniversary of victory in the Second World War, Zhukov was accorded greater acclaim than himself. Brezhnev, a relatively junior political officer in the war, was always concerned with boosting his own importance in the victory.
Zhukov remained a popular figure in the Soviet Union until his death in 1974, although by his own admission he was much better at dealing with military matters than with politics. He was buried with full military honours in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. In 1969, he published a memoirs named "Reminiscences and reflection". (Воспоминания и размышления)
Still, there are several opinions that criticized Marshal Zhukov's acts and personality. Even after the Russian Federation honoured Zhukov in 1995, some people still do not acknowledge him. For example, the young historian Konstantin Zaleski believed that in Zhukov's memoirs, the Marshall exaggerated his own role in the Patriotic War.[41] Andrei Mertsalov stated that Zhukov was a rude and wayward person. The marshal also set terribly strict rules toward his subordinates in order to achieve the goals.[42] Others pay attention to Zhukov's "dictatorship." For example Major General P. G. Grigorienko stated that Zhukov always wanted other people to comply with his orders unconditionally. Some notable example for these points is that, on 28 September 1941, Zhukov sent ciphered telegram No. 4976 to commanders of the Leningrad Front and the Baltic Navy, announcing that returned prisoners and families of soldiers captured by the Germans would be shot.[43] This order was published for the first time in 1991 in the Russian magazine Начало (Beginning) No. 3. And in the same month, Zhukov also ordered that any soldiers who arbitrary left their positions would be shot.[44]
Specially, Anthony Beevor in Berlin: the Downfall (published in London, 2002) criticized Zhukov that the Marshal let his subordinates do everything they wanted during two weeks before the Berlin Military Management Committee was actived. However, this point received violently opposition from Doctor Joachim Fest, a researcher about Berlin and Hitler at the end of World War II. Fest stated that, Beevor totally forgot about the fact that Zhukov was really sensitive about the undiscipline of his subordinates and would strictly punish that undiscipline. Fest also commented that Beevor had scattered wrong information about history.[45] The book also received heavy critics from Grigori Karasin, Russian Ambassador at London.[46]
Some opinions stated that Zhukov is a typical "squander-soldier general" and that he was emotionless about the loss of lives of his forces. However, some scholars strongly rejected this idea and they quoted some of Zhukov's order stored by Russian Minster of Defence and Government of Moskva to prove that Zhukov did care about the soldiers' lives.[47]
| “ |
The reason why 49th Army failed to accomplish the attacking mission and suffered heavy loss of lives is because the commanders of the units terribly violated the regulations of using artillery in preparing shot in order to persecuted and broke the enemy's lines and did not pay attention to reinforcing the shelters and trenches for the soldiers to take cover in. The units of 49th Army repeated many useless head-on assault towards Kostino, Ostrozhnoye, Bogdanovo, Potapovo; that lead to heavy lives lost and failure of the mission. Even a person with primary education level can understand that these strong points are very suitable for defence and shelter. The area in front of these strong points was arranged with many perfect firing posts. Repeating many assaults in winter condition is the result of the indiscipline and the lack of preparing to the idiotic extend, that lead to heavy and useless life loss of the Motherland and thousands of Mothers. If you still want to stay at your commanding positions, execute my following order: Stop immmediately the head-on assaults. Terminate instantly the pointless bombardment of artilery in the front. When moving must make full use of mountain creeks and forests in order to reduce casualties. Secretly isolate the strong points and do not stop in order to assault to Sloboda, Rassvet and develope to Levshina. I demand you to execute the order before 24:00 of 27 January. |
” |
|
—Order of G. K. Zhukov to the High Command of 49th Army on 27 January 1942[48] |
||
| “ | You had created such a useless thinking that victory can be achieved by tactic "use meat to crush people". Victory can only achieved by combat arts and fighting skills, not by people's lives. | ” |
|
—Order of G. K. Zhukov to Zakharkin on 7 March 1942, [49] |
||
| “ | Tactics of Western Army Group recently indicated a completely unacceptable attititude about saving forces. Commanders of armies, corps and divisons just threw the units into the battlefields but they were irresponsible about preparing medical care for the soldiers. Recently, casualties rates of Western Army Group was two or three times more than others areas. However wounded soldiers were still abandoned, it seems to be that saving life of the wounded and maintaining health of the soldiers was only considered as a petty problem. | ” |
|
—Order of G. K. Zhukov on 15 March 1942, [50] |
||
However, Zhukov still received many positive comments about him, mostly from his companions in the Soviet Army, from the Russian Army nowadays, and from the Western Allied generals lived contemporarily with him. General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that because of Zhukov's credits in the war aganist the Nazis, the United Nations owed him much more than any other notable military leaders in the world.
| “ | The war in Europe ended with victory and nobody could did that better than Marshal Zhukov, we owed him that credit. He is a modest person and so, we can't undervalue his position in our mind. When we can come back to our Motherland, there must be another type of Order in Russia, an Order named after Zhukov, which is awarded to everybody who can learn the bravery, the far vision and the decisiveness of this soldier. | ” |
|
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, [51] |
||
Major General Sir Francis de Guingand, Chief of Staff of Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery described G. K. Zhukov as a friendly and nice person.[52] The US writer John Gunther, who met Zhukov many times after the World War, said that Zhukov was the most friendly, the nicest and the most honest person, much more than any Russian leaders that Guther had met.[53] John Eisenhower (Dwight D. Eisenhower's son) claimed that G. K. Zhukov was really ebullient and was a very suitable friend of him.[54]
Zhukov was a recipient of numerous decorations. In particular, he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union four times ; besides him, only Leonid Brezhnev was a (self awarded) four-time recipient. Zhukov was one of three double recipients of the Order of Victory. He was also awarded the high honours of many other countries. A partial listing is presented below.
The very first monument to Georgy Zhukov was erected in Mongolia, in memory of the Battle of Halhin Gol. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, this monument was one of the very few which did not suffer from the anti-Soviet backlash in the former Communist states.
A minor planet, 2132 Zhukov, discovered in 1975 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh, is named in his honor.[55]
In 1995, commemorating Zhukov's 100th birthday, Russia adopted the Order of Zhukov and the Zhukov Medal.
Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky's poem On the Death of Zhukov ("Na smert' Zhukova", 1974) is regarded by critics as one of the best poems on the war written by an author of the post-Second World War generation.[56] It is a clever stylisation of The Bullfinch, Derzhavin's elegy on the death of Generalissimo Suvorov in 1800. Brodsky obviously draws a parallel between the careers of these commanders.
Zhukov himself reportedly participated in Beria's arrest at the Kremlin, with one version having him exclaiming "in the name of the Soviet People, you are under arrest, you son of a bitch." The historical accuracy of some accounts is doubted. Nikita Khrushchev's memoirs confirm this story, if not the use of colorful language.
In his book of recollections,[57] Zhukov was critical of the role the Soviet leadership played during the war. The first edition of Vospominaniya i razmyshleniya was published during Brezhnev's reign, only on condition that criticism of Stalin was removed and Zhukov had to add an (invented) episode of a visit to Leonid Brezhnev, politruk at the Southern Front, to consult on military strategy.[58]
Zhukov is a character in Robert Conroy's Red Inferno: 1945. The novel follows his career as Marshal of the Soviet Union in a fictional situation where the Soviet Union attacks America and the remaining Allied nations. Towards the end of the novel an American Boeing B-29 Superfortress drops a nuclear bomb near the city of Paderborn, Germany, where he has set up his headquarters. The fictional bomb kills both him and his protégé and second in command, Vasily Chuikov, as well as a large portion of the Soviet military's elite forces.
In the title song from the Swedish band Sabaton's album Attero Dominatus they sing about Georgy Zhukov during the Battle of Berlin.
Cigar City Brewing Company in Tampa, Florida brews a Russian imperial stout named after Zhukov.
Cold War International History Project Bulletin, no. 5 (Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Washington, DC), Spring, 1995, pp. 22–23, 29–34.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Nikolai Bulganin |
Minister of Defence of Soviet Union 1955–1957 |
Succeeded by Rodion Malinovsky |
|
|||||